Newsletter 10th January 2025
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Families,
I hope you and your family enjoyed a restful and relaxing holiday and are looking forward to the term ahead.
I wanted to remind our community about the Parent Forum meetings, which will take place over the next two weeks. These meetings will be exclusively online, after school, to ensure they are as accessible as possible for all families. During these sessions, we will provide details about the curriculum expectations for the term, as well as the key topics that will be covered. We will also share the Knowledge Organisers for each year group. The links for the meetings are included below.
In school this week, we have been focusing on positive behaviour expectations. To support the children in their behaviour both inside and outside the classrooms, we have introduced new reminders, including the Sunshine Spotlight. This initiative celebrates one class each week during our Friday assemblies, acknowledging those who have shown excellent attitudes and learning behaviours.
Next week, we will be running a Reading Fluency Workshop aimed at supporting Years 2-3, with some Year 4 parents/carers invited. The workshop will take place in person in the hall on Wednesday, January 15th at 9am, with online access also available for those who cannot join us in person.
Finally, I would like to take a moment to express how impressed we have been with the children's attendance and punctuality in this first week back. We are now tracking our attendance against all other Kingston Schools, as shown in the ranking information below, and we hope to continue improving throughout the term with your support.
Thank you for your continued investment at Alexandra.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support.
Robert Waiting
Head Teacher
School Attendance
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Alexandra's Overall School Attendance 95.8% |
We are ranked 11th out of 35 Local Authority Primary Schools |
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Alexandra's Persistently absent percentage 10.2% |
We are ranked 11th out of 35 Local Authority Primary Schools |
Chess and Draughts Club
We will be starting a chess and draughts lunch club in January, and would really appreciate any donations of chess/draughts sets. Alternatively, if you wish to purchase one from our wishlist, you can do so here. Thank you!
Parent Forums - Spring Term
The parent forums will take place online only at the following times in January:
- Mon 13th 3.45 - Y6 meet.google.com/nuf-baun-scq
- Mon 13th 4.15 - Y5 meet.google.com/hgx-azkx-jwx
- Wed 15th 3.45 - Y4 meet.google.com/kyo-dypd-rrk
- Wed 15th 4.15 - Y3 meet.google.com/bsg-khhg-pfj
- Thu 16th 3.45 - Y2 meet.google.com/jgw-xmbn-rsz
- Thu 16th 4.15 - Y1 meet.google.com/upy-oifg-ysz
- Mon 20th 3.45 - Reception meet.google.com/naq-xvhb-ufo
- Mon 20th 4.15 - Nursery meet.google.com/aam-crhp-pzr
- Thu 23rd 3.45 - Beehive meet.google.com/hfa-jvhi-iza
Congratulations to Poppy in Y6 who raised £520 for the Little Princess Trust by cutting off and donating her hair.Weekly Attendance and Punctuality Information
Attendance remains a key focus for Alexandra, as there is clear research that links attendance and punctuality to results. Each week in the newsletter, we will be publishing our whole school attendance numbers.
THIS WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK
Attendance Matters
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If your child is absent, we would prefer that your report it on Parentmail or send an email to admin@alexandra.school. If you leave a telephone message, please state your child's name, class and reason for absence slowly and clearly, as it is sometimes difficult to hear messages left on our answerphone.
Please inform the school by 8:50 am if your child is unwell; in line with our safeguarding protocols, we will investigate further if no contact is made. Absences for holidays during term-time, birthdays, and other non-essential reasons will not be authorised.
Please don’t be offended if we chase attendance, as we have a legal duty to do so, and we are committed to working in partnership with our parents and families to support each child’s education.
As a reminder, children need to be in their classroom for the register to be taken at 8.55am. Please remind your children to go straight to class when they arrive at school.
Education Explained...Personal Development
Personal development at Alexandra Primary School is underpinned by our vision statement ‘Establishing lifelong learning, rooted in knowledge, enriched by experience’ and our values of community, exploration, nurture and excellence.
Our aspiration is for all children to develop into confident, resilient and successful learners, who are responsible global citizens, ready to contribute positively to their communities and the wider world. Our children are articulate individuals, who respect, celebrate and learn from the diverse community around them. They are well-prepared for the next stage in their education and are equipped with the skills and attitudes to thrive in life in modern Britain.
For more information, please click here.
SAFEGUARDING AND ONLINE SAFETY
What Parents and Carers Need to Know about ...worry and anxiety
Changes of details
Please ensure you inform the school if you have any changes in your contact details, if you have moved house or had changes in personal circumstances. You can update the photo permissions and nominated adults for collection online.
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Alexandra Primary School Education Fund
Our voluntary education fund helps provide a rich and varied curriculum for the children.
We would like to stress that the donations we are asking for are voluntary; there is no obligation to contribute to the Fund but any amount, however small, is very welcome and will make a difference.
For more details about how to donate, please click here.
Miss Peacock's Maths Challenge
Each week we will have a new maths challenge for each keystage. Bring your answers to Miss Peacock for a special sticker. If you want to continue with your maths learning, then please play Hit The Button
Wishlists
Each class has an Amazon wishlist of additional resources/books that would enhance the children's learning. If you would like to buy something for your class, please see the links to the lists below. It is important to emphasise that this is entirely an optional donation and parents should not feel obliged to provide anything.
KS1 library Nursery Caterpillars Woodpeckers Dragonflies Sparrowhawks
KS2 library Hoglets Ladybirds Foxes Bats Skylarks PE Owlets Swans Hedgehogs Kestrels Swallows Specialist Resource Provision Afterschool Club
Items can be purchased directly (please put your name and the class name in the message box so the teacher knows who to thank) or, if you would like to provide any of the items from alternative sources, please do email admin@alexandra.school and we will remove it from the list.
Safeguarding concern?
If you have a concern about the welfare of a child please speak to a member of the designated safeguarding team at Alexandra Primary School (Robert Waiting, Polly Jones, Rose Peacock and Lorraine Figueiredo). If you think a child is in immediate danger you should call 999. You can also email admin@alexandra.school which will be forwarded directly to the safeguarding team.
School calendar
All school events are now found on our school calendar. You can also subscribe to this calendar to your phone (via Outlook, Google or iPhone) to be kept up to date of all events.
Website links
The year groups blogs are available on the website via the links below. The year group blogs for Key Stage 2 can also be found on Google Classroom.
Nursery Reception Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Beehive
Golden and Ambassador Assembly
Printer cartridge recycling
Please recycle your used 
printer cartridges in the box in the entrance. We raise money for the PSA for every eligible printer cartridge recycled!
Community news
Join The Canbury Bandstand Committee
We are writing to you on behalf of the Friends of Canbury Bandstand with a plea for volunteers to join our committee, to enable the 2025 summer bandstand concert series to go ahead. We are looking for people relatively local to North Kingston, who can spare some time to help with the smooth running of these extremely popular concert series, that we hold every summer in our beautiful gardens. We have a band organiser, treasurer and funds in the bank for next year but need some more people to help us keep going.
Specifically, we need people to do the following:
· Sponsorship, grants and publicity: liaise with our very supportive local businesses, Council and councillors to raise sponsorship and grants for the events and put together the poster for the season. This is a vital but not particularly time-consuming task.
· Organise the rota for our event marshals, that is the rota of people to unlock and then lock up after each event. We have a group of willing marshals (and indeed band members and audiences always help with chairs to some extent), however, we lack someone with the time to organise the rota of marshals and recruit a few more. This needs someone local to keep an eye on the marshal rota during the summer season, but they do not need to be around for every Sunday over summer as long as there are marshals who have been shown what to do.
These roles can be done by one, two, three or more people but we need at least two more volunteers to join our committee in order for us to continue.
If you are interested or want to know more, please contact the friendsofcanburybandstand@
We'd also like to welcome prospective volunteers to join us for our next meeting on Monday 3rd February at 5:30pm at the Boaters Inn, Canbury Gardens. Shortly after this, depending on if we get at least 2 more people confirming they can help, we will make a final call on the 2025 season.
With best wishes,
Friends of Canbury Bandstand
Social Skills Group for Autistic Children
We are taking referrals for the Social Skills Group. We will have some spaces from the end of February. Social skills group
These groups are for autistic children aged 8 to 12 years and who are in mainstream education. The groups are held at Moor Lane Centre in Chessington in term time.
For more information email Tracey Barnes or Telephone 077 4853 4587
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